Reason Behind Ending GOLDBERG’s WCW Winning Streak Revealed

Wrestling legend Goldberg recently returned to the ring after a 12 year absence, and his 1:27 victory over Brock Lesnar, as awesome as it was, came as no shock to the fans who saw him in WCW.

After his 1997 debut, Goldberg went undefeated for over a year, racking up an incredible 173-0 streak. The ridiculous run finally came to an end at Starrcade 98, in a title match against Kevin Nash. Nash managed to defeat the unbeatable beast, thanks to interference from BFF Scott Hall (and a taser).

While he could certainly be forgiven for losing under such unfair circumstances, the loss nevertheless affected Goldberg’s “invincible” reputation. Now, former WCW head honcho Eric Bischoff is opening up about the decision to allow his biggest draw to be seen as human. During his podcast, Bischoff on Wrestling, the smarmy boss brought up how insane the streak had become.

He said:

“We had been talking about it, from what I can recall, for a couple of months. As I’ve touched on in previous shows, we were just running out of guys for Goldberg to go through. Once we got to the point of 173-0 or whatever it was……….it was at that point that we had to start telling stories. We had to expand the storytelling process with Bill. We knew it had to be done.”

While it was always in the cards that Goldberg would lose eventually, it took Bischoff a while to decide who would get the honor to be the one to pin the monster. While it ultimately ended up being Nash, Bischoff was quick to point out that it wasn’t a foregone conclusion (as many have assumed, given Nash’s status in the business at the time. He could basically write his own ticket, that’s how powerful he was).

“It was probably a couple months previously that we started discussing it and getting serious about it. But in terms of, ‘was it always going to be Nash?’ No. We were exploring a lot of different opportunities. Because of what was going on, and the sheer size of Kevin Nash, he was the most believable and credible to tell that story.”

Goldberg’s subsequent WWE run was much less impressive, ending on an anticlimactic note at WrestleMania XX, with a (boring) victory over Brock Lesnar. However, following his 12 year absence, we’re once again seeing vintage Goldberg in the run up to The Royal Rumble, and ultimately, WrestleMania.

Looking back, do you think the right decision was made in how the streak was ended, and by who? And what do you think is next for the future Hall of Famer? Tell us in the comments below!